


It is quite soft, Master Burglar.

by Mo6918



Series: What you find on the road [4]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Hobbit feet are floof, Just a fluff thing, M/M, They may or may not be high on forest air, This isn't a foot fetish thing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22866001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mo6918/pseuds/Mo6918
Summary: When you're high on cursed forest air, you need to find something to connect you with reality.Thorin has found something. Something soft.Another random soft moment on the road to Erebor...it's a long journey. So much opportunity for quiet fluff...
Relationships: Bilbo Baggins/Thorin Oakenshield
Series: What you find on the road [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637008
Comments: 4
Kudos: 141





	It is quite soft, Master Burglar.

At first, Bilbo did not notice anything. He was dazed by the heavy air, thick with the fumes of crowding trees, older than the oldest Hobbit. Sometimes he would not hear anything but the rushing of blood in his ears, every sound muted as if he was walking in a dream. Other times every falling leaf would sound like the beat of a drum, breaking the air, hard and foreboding.

He was tired and heavy-lidded like the rest of them, yet he refused to take the usually welcome opportunity of rest to try and find some sleep. Instead, he had offered to take the first watch with Thorin.

“Two pairs of eyes see better than one. Especially in these woods.” After a moment’s hesitation, Thorin had agreed.

“Should neva ‘d entered this forest”, he heard someone mutter. It might have been Bofur, but a moment later, he could’ve sworn it had been someone else’s voice. Someone hidden in the darkness between the trees. Someone _watching_ them.

Then he noticed something. A soft tugging on the hairs of his foot. Not uncomfortable in the slightest, but drawing his attention, nagging, until he fully realized the feeling and flinched, as if it had suddenly started just now.

“What are you doing?”, he asked and his confusion seemed more tangible and real than the constant drowsy disorientation he’d been feeling since they had started on the elven path. “Thorin?”

“Hm?” The dwarrow stopped in his movements and seemed to resurface from miles away, his eyes clearing slowly as he looked up at Bilbo, who was seated on a tree trunk with Thorin leaning against it. The thick fingers of the king had stopped in mid-air but resettled after a while, back into the cloud of honeyed hair that spread over the top of his foot.

Bilbo watched as the fingers dug into his hair, tugging lightly and petting gently. “What are you doing?”, he repeated, now more alert than perhaps he had been since they had entered this accursed forest. This time, the dwarf answered.

“I’m trying to keep my sanity”, Thorin explained and glanced down at his own hand. Bilbo half expected him to withdraw his hand, to realise only now, what he had been doing, but instead, the dwarf continued. “It helps”, he muttered.

“Petting my foot hair helps you keep your sanity”, Bilbo clarified, trying to get this revelation beyond doubt.

“It does”, Thorin said with a mild air of surprise, then he smiled up at Bilbo. “It is quite soft. …I hope I’m not violating some basic shire courtesy by doing this.”

“Not that I am aware of”, Bilbo said, wiggling his toes thoughtfully, which was greeted by strong fingers following the lines of his toes up to the wiggling tips and back into the plush fur further up his arch. “It’s just pretty filthy at the moment, that’s all. I didn’t get a chance to properly wash and comb it since we left Beorn’s.”

“This whole forest is filthy”, Thorin spat, giving the darkness around them a grim and suspicious look, but he didn’t stop the soft caresses through the fluffy topping of the leathery foot. “I didn’t realise you brushed it”, he then said slowly.

“I didn’t count on you noticing my foot hair, but I like to keep it neat.”

“I did notice that”, Thorin said quickly, hasting to make sure he’d been paying attention to the Hobbit.

“Unfortunately, I lost my brush in the goblin tunnels.” Bilbo sighed deeply. “I borrowed a comb from Dori a while back, but-“ His words were cut short by Thorin looking up sharply.

“You could have asked me”, the king said, sounding almost hurt. “You could have borrowed mine.”

“Huh”, Bilbo huffed, clicked his tongue and wiggled his nose. “I didn’t think of it”, he finally admitted. He hadn’t considered asking the stoic king to be for his grooming supplies. It had just seemed more likely for Dori to have a comb or brush on him and be willing to share.

“You should, from now on”, Thorin said firmly and produced a small black comb from his pockets. It was polished to a shine but otherwise so black it seemed to swallow the night itself. Carefully, the dwarrow began to run the comb through the hobbit’s hair.

“It is onyx from deep within the Ered Luin”, he rumbled, as he alternated between the comb and his fingers, brushing through Bilbo’s hair lightly, while the Hobbit watched in awe.

“Did you make it yourself?”, he asked, his voice almost a whisper, as if speaking to loudly would disturb the peace of the moment, this small shared bubble of gentleness between them. Thorin hummed an affirmation.

“I thought…”, Bilbo swallowed, lifted a hand and began to return the caresses, by letting his fingers wander through the silver streaked waves of black, that flowed over Thorin’s back. “I thought everything dwarves make is hard and coarse and a little too heavy and harsh for the likes of me.”

The dwarrow heaved a sigh and for a moment, he said nothing. Then he looked up again, his hands stilled, one of them laying warm and protective on Bilbo’s foot.

“And is a stone comb enough to change your mind, Master Burglar?”

“No”, Bilbo said, a smile on his lips. “But there are quite a few things that are changing my mind even as we speak.”

And with that he leaned down and planted a firm and long kiss on Thorin’s brow, breathing in deeply and finding that yes, keeping a little body contact helped quite a bit with keeping one’s sanity even in the most cursed of forests.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you for your time. 
> 
> And see https://twitter.com/hipetys/status/1231536871228035072 for the visual. Dwarf-made comb included.


End file.
